The Next Step's Catalyst
by Nina of the Galaxy
Summary: Sara was actually helping Slade, their plan has come together finally and that means wheels are put in motion. Oliver and Roy have to do what must be done, which leads to him forgoing his promise to Tommy after he has lost everything and everyone. He knows Laurel was right about Blood too. So he finds himself at her hallway, because she is his only hope.


Words: 2643  
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Action  
Status: Done

"My disciple of the night, are you ready?" He asked, baring his teeth, the glinting white, being the only thing in the dark that suggested a person was there, besides the voice.

She stood there, facing him, and wondered. "You think they bought it?"

His face turned around and he grinned, genuine and real. "My dear, you are a better actress than you give yourself credit for. You infiltrated the group and you became one of them. They believed you. Ate it like it was candy." He took her into his arms and ran his fingers through her blonde hair. He would relish in the fact that he got to steal the girl from Oliver. Always get the girl.

She looked pleased with herself. This place should burn. It was full of bad memories. Bad family days. But she, she could rule at his side and that was a great deal more powerful. "I'm ready and they're expecting me," She said as she nuzzled her nose against his.

"Our destiny awaits, moy dragotsennyy kanareyka" He said as he held his hand out and let her lead the way. He knew where the cave was, but her driving would look a lot less suspicious. Besides, he was going to go through the front door, just like everyone else.

Verdant was popular tonight. Some big band playing there that Slade had only vaguely heard of. She parked the car and kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't get all soft on me now, sweetheart." He said.

She shook her head, "You know the plan,"

"I do," He replied. She got out of the car and went in around the back. He unbuckled and went in the front, Thea Queen, obviously happy to see him again. This life had its perks, he smiled, complimentary drink.

He looked at his watch when she went away. Perfect timing. He left the drink at the bar and went to the back of the club where no one but the losers were standing. They looked at him opening the door, and he puffed out his shoulder and they left him alone.

"Sara, what are you waiting for? Come on, we've got to get this show on the road. Oliver is in some therapy session because, well who the fuck knows, but we've got to get this guy. Oliver said it's important," Diggle fumed.

Slade smiled in the shadows. "Who says that Ollie is right? This guy, Felicity doesn't have a trace him. We don't know where he is, this could be anything."

"Actually, I do, I mean not like you want, but I have a trace on him. It's rudimentary, but he should be in the club. I mean he's supposed to be one of Slade's guys, so this is important. You need to find him," Felicity babbled.

Sara rolled her eyes. "So we're just supposed to go up there and apprehend a criminal. We're not cops. And in case you didn't notice, there is a fairly large party going on up there. Do you have any idea how much work it would take to get him flushed out of there?" She asked, incredulously, "If you don't have anything concrete for me, I'm gonna leave," Sara said.

That was his queue as she reached for the door, they came after her "Sara, wait," They said as Sara positioned herself so that they would be in the corner running after her.

"What?" She said.

He slit Diggle's throat and the Felicity girl, her horrified expression could have been a piece of fine art. "You. You. You were….You were working…with him," Felicity stammered.

"You bet it sweetcheeks," She said as she kissed Felicity, long and hard, before putting a knife in her stomach. "He's the only man, I'd ever dare work with,"

They left her to die there on the pavement of the Arrow Cave, clearly satisfied with themselves. Felicity's last act of defiance before succumbing the pain and blackness was texting Oliver:

Sara working with Slade. Killed Diggle. I'm dying. Tracker is on. Find them.

Oliver looked at his phone. No. No. No. No. This couldn't be happening. Sara and Slade. Fuck. He excused himself from his therapy, "Something's come up, I'm sorry," He said as he quickly ran out to his motorcycle and rode towards Roy.

Getting there, Roy looked confused, "Aren't you supposed to be at that thing with the talking about your feelings?" He asked, Oliver, eyebrow quirked.

"Just get on." Oliver ground out.

Roy didn't argue. He'd never seen Oliver that angry. He got on and Oliver handed him his phone. "Give me directions to the dot." Oliver demanded. Roy thought his teeth might be dust by the way he didn't open his mouth and yet had full articulation in his words.

Zig-zagging through the various streets, they found themselves where the dot had stopped, an abandoned building by the looks of it, but looks could be ever so deceiving as he learned.

"Come on, we have to go in, but first call Detective Lance, tell him what's going on. If we get stuck in here, I want to know that someone else is looking out for us," He explained.

Roy nodded and Oliver went in with his bow. There were guards, but Oliver's rage seemed to kill them. This was about way more than just Tommy now. Tommy would forgive him for slaying a few people when it meant getting justice for the fallen. Killing them would be the only way that they would eve stop, because Felicity and Diggle, they had been casualties that he should have protected.

Roy caught up. "He's coming. He's scared, but he's coming."

"Good," Oliver said as shot an arrow into another person's heart.

This was something Roy had never seen from Oliver. This was blind rage. It was deep and crimson and it flowed like the Hudson. "We'll avenge them. I promise." Roy said, clapping his hand on Oliver's shoulder.

"Just make sure he dies." Oliver didn't look at him. Death transformed him. He'd lost everyone. His father. Tommy. Diggle. Felicity. Sara. Shado. Slade. Yao. Laurel. He hadn't talked to her in weeks. He hadn't seen her since the fight in the hall. He heard she was getting better but if she only know that she was getting better because her sister was a traitor. Even Thea was gone technically. She was blood of the enemy.

As they went further and further up, there were less and less people. Guess, you didn't get in without some sort of clearance or earning your place. Bad guys had that. Probably the only thing they were good at.

It was easy enough to just kill blindly when there were many people.

"Ah, the vigilante," The voice came. "We knew you'd come back," He said.

It was the guy in the mask. The guy Laurel had shot. But he was supposed to be dead. He was dead. She shot him dead. But here he was alive. "Who are you?" Oliver asked, modulator graveling his voice.

"Shocked? Not that I can blame you. You never did win any awards for intelligence." He chuckled.

"Who are you?" Oliver asked again, tired of the game.

The mask shook its head. "We are saving this city. From you."

"By killing innocent people?" He asked, "Yeah, I hardly think so." He shot an arrow, trying to catch the eye of the mask.

"Come on," The voice seemed to smile, "How large is your body count tonight? Two seems like nothing compared to that."

"You lured me here. Those bodies are on you." Oliver said. And shot an Arrow at the other eye. It bounce off, but it did allow him to get closer.

"No, that blood is on you. You couldn't save them. You couldn't keep them safe. The city isn't safe because of you. You just make it more dangerous." He said as he shot Oliver in the shoulder. "And now, we eliminate you and take over this city. Even if you win tonight, my plan still goes forward."

As his hand came down, Oliver saw it. Mirakuru.

Roy had been quiet, but Roy saw it too. He did what he had to and jumped in front of Oliver and took the needle in the arm. It bent like it was made of cheap aluminum.

Oliver stood up, took an arrow and jabbed it through the mask guy's heart, though it bent as it was going in too. Jacked up on Mirakuru. Fantastic. But who the hell was it? Who did he kill? The first personal kill of the night and he felt like he had to know.

Oliver took off the mask and saw the face of Blood. Blood. Laurel. His mind flashed to her. Even with all that had been going on, she tried to warn him. And they had made her look crazy. They made her look incompetent. And he couldn't believe he'd fallen for it. "Say goodbye to your girlfriend for me," Blood mumbled with a sneer still on his face.

"One room left," Roy said. "We've got 'em."

Oliver looked away from the body and to the door. "Come on,"

Oliver kicked down the door and saw Slade and Sara sitting happily together. They smiled to him. "We were wondering when you would make it to the party but we didn't expect you to bring a date," Sara smirked.

"Well, I'm here now. I'm waiting for when this gets started." Oliver growled, hands taut on the bow.

Slade pushed Sara out of his lap and took the Arrow on the table as well as a sword. "Come on, Kid. Do your worst."

He couldn't believe that this is the man that he would have died for so many years ago. "Shado would be ashamed with what you've become." Oliver said and Roy came around the back.

"Yeah, well, I don't owe her anything. She's dead. You killed her, remember. Just like you killed your friends by not being able to protect them. You are weak kid," Slade snarled as he held Oliver to the ground and sat on his chest. "You deserve to die."

And in that moment, he felt like he should. He felt like he deserved Slade's arrow through the eye. He accepted his death and waited for it to come, swiftly and without cause. But it never did.

"Come on, Man." Roy said as he rolled Slade off of Oliver and helped him up.

Oliver looked to Slade and then to Sara who had been watching the whole thing. "What happened?"

"He was about to kill you and I knocked him out, no thanks to you Thankfully, he seemed wholly intent on you. He's not dead, but you're still alive and that's what matters." Roy breathed in and out.

Oliver droved a jagged arrow into Slade's heart and felt it stop beating. It was over. Slade was dead. For good this time. Sure, he'd left Slade's kids without a father, but that wasn't his problem. That was uniquely Slade's problem.

He looked to Sara. "Why'd you do it?" He asked.

"Because I never wanted to come back and it took this to show you I never should. I just wanted to make sure my family was okay. But they don't need me. They need to move on. I'm not the Sara they lost. And I'm not the girl they want." She explained as she stepped toward the window. "My place is with Nyssa and the League of Assassins. Till next time." She said, as she jumped out, smiling at him.

"It's over," Roy said, patting him on the back. "We're done."

Oliver couldn't help but agree. He heard the rumble of boots and voices which only meant one thing, cops. They had finally gotten all the way up. "We have to get out of here."

Roy smiled, "The Roof isn't but another flight of stairs and then we can get out of here."

Oliver nodded and followed behind Roy. Once they were at the roof, Roy gave Oliver his phone back and they parted ways.

He goes to her building and thinks about what a horrible person he's been to her. There is no way that she can possibly forgive him after this But dammit, he had to try.

He reaches her hallway in the suit and wonders if he should have just gone in through the window. It was almost always open despite the fact that she said she hated the vigilante and had more crime committed in her apartment than normal, but she left it open.

He saw her though, so beautiful. So different from the last time he'd seen her with Sara and her family. She was putting her key in her lock and going to the elevator, when she looked up and saw him. "You."

"Me," He said, "You were right about Blood. He was the man in the mask."

"Was?" She asked.

He sighed. It had been such a long night and all he wanted to do was tell her sorry that he'd been an ass. Sorry that he'd doubted her. Sorry that he was an idiot. "He's dead. But he was planning something bigger than his boss."

"Why don't you have your people figure this out?" She countered.

He sighed. That was something that he needed to get to. "Because they're dead. His bosses killed them."

"So it's me?" She asked.

"It's you," He promised, "And I will protect you from anything and everything."

She looked into his eyes and asked. "How do I know that's true? They were killed. So obviously you can't protect everyone all the time."

"Because I was busy protecting you from me." He anguished as he took off the mask. "Because it's always been about you,"

No voice modulator, no nothing. It was him being honest with Laurel for one minute and he had to hope she'd take him in her life again.

She gasped and held her heart. "I don't have a choice. It's either help you or know everyday you put your life in unnecessary danger because I don't." She told him.

"I promise I never meant for this to happen." He said, holding her in his arms. As heavy as it felt, relief washed over him to have her warmth in his arms.

She shook her head and buried her nose deep in his neck and breathed for a moment. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," He said, looking down at her face. She was beautiful and god, why on earth had he not learned from the first time with Sara that it was a bad idea when all he wanted was the woman currently in his arms? "It's dangerous."

"I never would have said if I didn't think I could handle it." She said to him. "Besides, for the last two years, it's been you and I, saving the city in our separate ways. Now we can bring those two things together."

"You're amazing you know that?" He smiled.

She shook her head against his chest, "I could get used to that."

Sure, Starling was safe for tonight, but they would have to get to it eventually. And even though she accepted him right now, she knew that it wouldn't be as easy in the morning. They would have to talk. And he would end up doing a lot of groveling for his mistakes, but somehow all of that sounded pretty good, because they chance to be next to her again was thrilling. He didn't deserve it. But she was the only thing he had left and she served as a powerful reminder of what a simple thought could do.

"Come on, let's go inside." She said, opening up her apartment door again and letting him in.

The city could wait. Sleep could not.


End file.
